


Purple Flower Petals

by sugar_sweet_poison



Series: My Sweet Blue Boy [3]
Category: Sally Face (Video Games)
Genre: AU: No ghosts or cult or demons, Because they're adorable, Brother-Sister Relationships, Disabled Character, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Family Dynamics, Father-Daughter Relationship, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Megan is friends with Soda, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sal Fisher and Larry Johnson Are Not Related, Sal and Larry are metalhead cottagecore lovers, Smut, bullied disabled character, hard of hearing character, smut between adults!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:15:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27111070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sugar_sweet_poison/pseuds/sugar_sweet_poison
Summary: The sequel to "My Sweet Blue Boy." In which Sal and Larry enjoy their life with their children.
Relationships: Ashley Campbell/Original Female Character(s), Sal Fisher/Larry Johnson
Series: My Sweet Blue Boy [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1934212
Comments: 14
Kudos: 33





	1. A New Beginning

Sal sits down at the piano bench and two children sit next to him. Sal brings his hands up, scanning the keys, then lowers them to play. He plays a sweet melody that gets the black cat that was sleeping on top of the piano to stick it’s head up. Sal laughs at the cat then starts to sing along with his playing. 

_“Come up to meet you. Tell you I’m sorry. You don’t know how lovely you are… I had to find you. Tell you I need you. Tell you I set you apart…_

 _Tell me your secrets and ask your questions. Oh, let’s go back to the start… Running in circles, coming up tails. Heads on a science apart…”_ Sal’s voice carries out through the house, being heard from Larry in the kitchen.

Larry leans against the living room door frame and watches his beautiful husband play for their children. Every time Sal sat down at that piano, it felt like Larry had fallen in love again.

_“Nobody said it was easy… It’s such a shame we had to part. Nobody said it was easy… No one ever said it would be this hard… Oh, take me back to the start.”_ Sal plays a melody for a minute, earning the little girl at his side, his daughter, to kick her feet in rhythm.

_“I was just guessing at numbers and figures. Pulling your puzzles apart… Questions of science, science, and progress, do not speak as loud as my heart… Tell me you love me, come back and haunt me. Oh, and I rush back to the start…”_

Before Sal can sing the next line, the black cat drops from the top of the piano and scatters across the keys, turning Sal’s melody into a jumble of noise. “Patrick!” Sal tries to grab the cat, but it runs off.

“Patrick!” The two children jump up and run after the cat, chasing it into the kitchen.

Larry stands aside and lets the cat run away, but stops his son and daughter by grabbing the back of their shirts. “Hold it, you two.”

The boy with fluffy, brown hair, who looks like a miniature version of Larry, stares up at him. “Did you hear Dad playing!?” Jack speaks a bit louder than necessary.

Larry scoffs and lets go of Jack. He picks up his daughter with curly blue hair, Artemis, and balances her on his hip. “Jack did _you_ hear Dad playing!?” It’s a legit question.

Sal grabs his son and turns him to the side. He pushes the fluffy hair to the side to see Jack’s hearing aid… switched off. “The answer to that question is, _‘Barely.’”_ Sal switches Jack’s hearing aid on. “Is the other one off?”

“I don’t think so…” Jack lisps due to a lack of his two front teeth. He fiddles with the hearing aid in his other ear. “Yeah, I don’t think so.”

Sal smiles and pats Jack’s back. He hears a cry come from upstairs, and on the baby monitor hooked to his hip.

When Sal stands up, Artemis reaches for him. Larry pulls the toddler back and holds her tight. “Artie, Daddy has to go get the baby!” He baby-talks her. 

Artemis presses her face against Larry’s shoulder and pouts.

“Aye, come on,” Sal ruffles her curly hair. “Behave for Papa, Honey!” Sal goes running up the stairs and to the baby’s room.

A baby with a little bit of dark brown hair kicks and cries in her crib.

Sal sticks his head over the crib with a big smile on his face. “Hello, Beautiful!”

The baby girl settles down almost immediately when she hears her father’s voice. She stares up at him with bright blue eyes and smiles.

Sal laughs and rests his arms on the bars of the crib. “Why are you crying, Baby Girl? Are you hungry?” He reaches into the crib and picks up the rainbow pacifier that had fallen out of his daughter’s mouth. _“Oh, Ophelia! You’ve been on my mind, girl, since the flood!”_ Sal sings and places the pacifier in the baby’s mouth and picks her up. Sal walked with his baby, singing the whole way. _“Oh, Ophelia! Heaven help a fool who falls in love!”_

Sal goes down to the kitchen, humming, and gets a bottle of formula for his daughter.

“Dad!” Jack spots his dad and new baby sister and goes running at them.

“Jack, no!” Sal quickly sets down the bottle and reaches out a hand to stop Jack from colliding with him. “Honey, I know you like hugs, but you can’t hug me like that.” Sal squats down to allow Jack to see the baby, Ophelia. Jack is used to running at Sal like that, but Sal had a c-section to deliver Ophelia, and Jack’s head is perfectly leveled with his lower abdomen.

Jack follows Sal to the living and sits by him on the couch. “Can I feed her?” He asks eagerly.

Sal smiles and hands the bottle to his son. “I don’t think she’ll let you hold her, though.”

Ophelia hasn’t let anyone other than Sal hold her when she was crying. Even the nurses at the hospital had a difficult time carrying for her.

Sal pops the pacifier out of Ophelia’s mouth and Jack sticks the bottle in. They feed her perfectly fine for a few minutes then Artemis comes running in and jumps into Sal’s lap.

She smacks her head directly onto Sal’s c-section wound.

“OOOW!” Sal’s legs fold in from the pain that shocks his body.

Artemis jumps back, shocked and terrified, and begins to cry. “Sorry!”

“No, no, Honey, it’s okay!” But Sal was still in pain.

“All right, come here!” Larry runs in and grabs Artemis under her arms. He lifts her over the couch and turns to Sal. “Hand Ophelia over to Jack, please. We gotta make sure nothing ripped.”

“Don’t use the word, _‘ripped,’_ please?” Sal sets Ophelia in Jack’s lap. Jack, however, was equally as scared as his little sister. “It’s okay, Sweetie.” Sal ruffles Jack’s hair and stands up.

Larry walks around the couch with a sniffling Artemis on his hip. “Okay, let me see.” Larry lifts Sal’s shirt to see the bandage on his lower abdomen.

“It’s not bleeding.” Sal pulls his shirt down. “I know it’s not bleeding, ‘cause it stopped hurting,” Sal speaks to his daughter. He takes Artemis from Larry. “I know my baby girl wasn’t trying to hurt me!”

Artemis sniffs and wipes her nose.

Sal sits down on the couch and bounces Artemis on his lap. “Hey, Honey Bunny!” He finally gets a quiet giggle from her.

“Okay,” Larry rolls up his sleeves, “I need to finish dinner. Artie, do you want to help me?”

Artemis hops down from Sal’s lap and goes running to Larry with her hands outstretched.

Larry bends down and picks Artemis up. “All right, you can be my mixer!”

  
  
  
  
  


Night falls, and Sal peacefully rocks Ophelia in a chair, watching her drift into sleep.

“Come on!” Outside the door, Larry chases a giggling Jack and Artemis through the house, trying to get them to bed.

Larry catches Artemis and throws her over his shoulder. The little girl screams and laughs as Larry continues to chase after Jack. Larry catches Jack and brings the two to the bathroom. “Did you brush your teeth?” He asks Jack.

“Yes!” Jack smiles.

Larry rests Artemis on his hip and goes to the sink. He pulls out a Spiderman toothbrush and taps his thumb on the dry bristles. He raises an eyebrow at Jack. “With _this_ toothbrush?”

“Yes!” Jack smiles again.

Larry tilts his head slightly to the side. “Something tells me that you’re a _liar!_ ” Larry sets the brush down and tickles Jack’s stomach.

Jack doubles over in a fit of laughter. “I’ll brush my teeth!!”

Larry straightens up and sets Artemis on the counter. He brushes her teeth while Jack brushes his own. “Spit.” He has Artemis rinse her mouth out. He lifts her off the counter and places her on the floor. “Go say goodnight to Daddy.”

Artemis runs off to her parents’ bedroom to say goodnight to Sal.

“Papa!” Jack grabs onto Larry’s shirt. “My tooth came out!” He holds up a baby and hooks his mouth open, showing a new gap in his bottom row of teeth.

Larry bends down to see Jack’s mouth a bit better. “That’s awesome, Bud!” He gets a cup of water for Jack to clean the tooth. 

“I’m gonna go, show Dad!” Jack runs away with the cup with the tooth, spilling water as he runs.

“Jack, be care-,” Larry slips on a puddle of water. He catches himself on the bathroom door frame. “CAREFUL!”

Jack runs to his parents’ open bedroom, excited to show his dad his lost baby tooth. “Dad!” He walks in and sees Sal sitting in a rocking chair with Ophelia in his arms and Artemis holding onto an arm of the chair. “Dad, I lost another tooth!” Now that Jack is closer, he can see Sal’s pink-ish face and red eye.

Sal sniffs and leans down to look into Jack’s cup. “That’s great, Jacky!” He ruffles Jack’s hair. “Think you’re gonna some Tooth Fairy money?”

“I better!” Jack turns serious. “I haven’t had a cavity in _years!_ ”

Sal laughs, his children lifting the blue mood he was feeling… Until it was bedtime.

Sal and Larry tuck their kids into their beds and say goodnight. They go back to their bedroom and Sal drops face-first into a pillow.

Larry sighs and cuddles up next to Sal. “All right, you’re acting weird.” He kisses Sal’s head and gets him to roll over and face him. “Talk to me.”

Sal takes a shaky breath and a tear rolls down his face. “I don’t know if I want to talk…”

“We don’t have to talk.” Larry tucks his arm under Sal’s pillow. “But I’m letting you know that I’ll listen to whatever you say. Whatever is bothering you-,” Larry lifts a hand up, “Hi!”

Sal laughs and cuddles closer to Larry. He wraps an arm around his waist. “... Did Jack put his hearing aids in their charger?”

Larry laughs. “Yes, Baby.” He kisses Sal’s nose. “Goodnight,”

“Good night. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

  
  
  
  
  


This isn’t right.

Sal is acting differently. Ever since last night, he has been off and Larry can’t figure out what’s wrong with him.

Larry tries to run a brush through Jack’s hair, but the boy complains the entire time.

“Ow… Ow… Ow… Ow…”

Larry sighs in defeat. His ruffles up Jack’s hair, trying to make it look at least a stylish type messy. “Okay, go get dressed.”

Jack looks down at his sweater, jeans, and boots. “I am dressed.”

“You know what I mean!” Larry waves him off. “Go get your coat and scarf.” Larry goes downstairs while Jack goes to his bedroom for his snowy clothes. Larry enters the kitchen and sees Sal sitting at the table with a cup of tea in hand.

Larry sits across from Sal. “Hello,”

“Hi,” Sal turns his mug around in his hands, warming his cold fingers.

“Sal,” Larry reaches out and takes his husband’s chilly hand. “Do you want to talk about what happened last night?”

Sal looks into his mug, unable to meet Larry’s eye. He takes a breath and sips on his tea. “After Artemis came in to say goodnight to me… I got a phone call from a number I didn’t recognize…”

Larry raises an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

Sal drums his fingers on his mug. “... My dad called last night.”

Larry’s eyes widened a bit in shock. “Henry called?”

“Yeah. After not talking to him in seven years, he called me.” Sal takes a sip of his tea. “He heard through some people that I was in the hospital and called to see what happened… I told him that I had another baby…” Sal’s lip starts to quiver. Normally, he’d just put all his emotional acts down as hormones, as he just had his baby. But now, he can’t say that. The call from Henry took a big emotional hit on Sal…

Larry rubs his thumb across Sal’s knuckles. “Sally… I’m sorry.”

Sal sniffs and wipes a tear from his eye. “Sorry for what?”

“I’m sorry that things turned out the way they did.” Larry brings Sal’s hand to his lips and kisses it. Larry will never forgive Henry for what he did to Sal. He got sober, he acted excited about Sal’s first pregnancy and excited to be a part of each others’ lives again… Then, in as little as a day, forgot about Sal completely.

“Oh, that’s not all.” Sal forces a laugh. “Because he didn’t even know we had _three_ kids… He wants to meet them-,”

“No.” Sal barely got the words out when Larry responded. “I’m sorry, Sal, but I don’t think I want my kids around that dude.”

“What if he’s changed? What if he actually wants to start over?” Sal starts to beg. “Lar, please? Even if it’s just one meeting? Larry, if my dad wants to start over, and actually be a dad and a grandfather… I think I should give him a chance.” The thought had been eating at Sal all night. He couldn’t sleep, thinking about how his father could truly want to fix things with Sal.

But all that Larry can think about is Sal back in the first apartment they got together. A newly pregnant Sal, sobbing in bed after his father overdosed. Sal, so happy to speak to his father and learn that he wanted to be a part of Sal’s life again. Sal, barely eating, sleeping, or bathing when Henry seemed to just forget his existence.

Larry runs his hands down his face. He doesn’t want to meet Henry again, but Sal could be right… He’s right about a lot of things. “Sal… If you come back home, crying, Henry is _going to die._ ” He lowers his hands to see Sal with a smirk on his face. “If not by me, then Ash will kill him.”

Sal giggles and grabs Larry’s hand. “I know. That’s why I like you guys.” Sal looks to the side and sees Jack standing in the doorway. His heart sinks. “Buddy, how long have you been standing there?”

“Depends.” Jack rocks on his heels.

“On?”

“Am I gonna get in trouble for listening?”

Sal rolls his eyes. “Oh, boy. You’re just like Papa.”

“Hey!” Larry fakes offense.

“Am I wrong?”

“...No.” Larry stands up. “Come on, Jacky.” Larry goes to the living room and gets his coat.

  
  
  
  
  


Larry drives down the snowy freeway with Jack in the back seat.

Jack plays games on Sal’s old Gearboy for a while then turns it off. “Papa?”

“Yeah, Bud?”

“Who’s Henry?”

Larry doesn’t answer at first. “He's no one, Buddy. You don’t need to worry.”

“Okay.” Jack lets it go immediately. He wasn’t that curious in the first place. “Tooth Fairy gave me twenty dollars last night!” He changes the subject.

Larry’s eyes widen a bit. _‘Guess I didn’t grab the right bill out of my wallet…’_ He thinks to himself. “That’s awesome, Jack!... But, how about we don’t tell Daddy about that, okay?”

  
  
  
  
  


Sal stares down at his phone for several minutes. He has Henry’s number dialed… But he’s having doubts about calling him. “He could have changed… I should give him a chance, right?” He asks his baby and cats laying on his bed.

Gizmo cuddles up next to Ophelia and Patrick is chasing Gizmo’s swinging tail.

Sal looks back down at his phone. “I’m gonna do it.” He goes to tap the **‘call’** button, but his phone screen lights up from an incoming call, and he hits the talk button instead. Sal mentally cusses to himself and brings his phone to his ear, not knowing who’s on the other side. “Hello?”

“Sawwy Face!” A little voice chirps happily from the other side.

Sal’s face twists in confusion. “Lily?” His mood gets lifted when he hears a small giggle. “Hi, Pumpkin!”

“Sawwy Face, Mommy’s getting me a bike today!”

“She is!?” 

“YES!” The little girl giggles with excitement. “It’s Mommy’s old bike and it’s pink!”

“It’s pink!? That’s awesome, Lily!”

A voice calls out in the background on the other side. “Where’s my phone?”

Sall laughs at how clear the voice was. “Lily, Pumpkin, am I on speaker?”

“Was that Sal?” Ashley’s voice gets more clear as she seems to enter the room. “Oh, Lily! Give mommy her phone,”

Lily lets out an evil-sounding laugh and Ashley’s voice grows further away. “Lily! Give mommy her phone!”

Sal bursts out laughing as he listens to Ashley to chase her daughter.

After a few more seconds, Ashley’s voice comes through clear. “Sal?”

“Hi, Ash!”

“Sal, I am so sorry! I don’t know how Lily got my phone. It was in my pocket!”

“Larry told you she stole his wallet before! Anyway, she was just telling me you guys are getting her a bike?”

“Well, my mom is bringing over my old tricycle. It’s too snowy out, of course, so Simone and I cleared out a space for her in the garage.”

Lily’s voice chirps up, “I get to ride a bike like Mommy!”

Ashley and Sal both laugh. “Yeah,” Ashley lowers her voice to a whisper. “This one’s not like my motorcycle, though.”

Sal sits down on the edge of his bed, feeling much happier. “All right, I won’t keep you busy, Ash. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Yeah, talk to you later, Sally Face! I gotta figure out how Lily got my password!”

“Good luck with that!”

Sal felt so much better from that call. His nerves from wondering if he should call his father were suffocating, but now he is breathing perfectly. He pulls up Henry’s number again. It’s harder to breathe, but not impossible like before. Sal sucks in a deep breath and pressed **‘call’**. He waits and listens to the ringing for a few seconds.

“Hello?” The voice on the other side is odd to Sal. It sounds familiar but at the same time, it sounds like a stranger. Even though Sal spoke to him last night, it feels like a stranger.

“Hey, Dad, it’s me…”

“Sal!” His voice sounds happy. Sal hadn’t heard a happy tone to this man’s voice in years. “Hi! How are you doing?”

“I’m doing good. Uh-,” Artemis, who was sitting at the desk playing on Sal’s laptop, crawls into the bed and sits next to Sal. Sal wraps his arm around her. “So, I was talking to Larry this morning, and, uh, he’s down with talking the kids out to meet you…”

The other line goes silent for a second.

“Dad?”

“Sal, you don’t know how happy you just made me…”

“Really?”

“Sal… I want to say I’m sorry. I treated you horribly when you were having Jake, I promised I’d do better and then just left you… His name is ‘Jake’, right?”

Sal laughs nervously. “Uh, it’s ‘Jack’, actually.”

“You- you see what I mean? I don’t know his name! I didn’t even know you were having another baby… How old are your kids?” Henry’s voice went from happy to something unreadable. Sal couldn’t quite put his finger on what emotion he was hearing.

“Well, Jack is turning seven in March. Artemis is two May, and Ophelia is two weeks old…”

Henry sighs, and now Sal can hear the sadness in his voice. “You have three kids… Sal, I’m sorry for how I treated you. It was a horrible thing for me to do, and I _really_ want to make it up to you…”

Sal takes a deep breath. “Okay… Okay. When are you free? I’ll talk to Larry about when we can meet up.”

“...Sal?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you so much.”


	2. Picture Books

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sal has a talk with Jack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Poppy" is Soda's nickname in this. It comes from her other nickname, "Soda Pop."

“Come sit with me.” Sal sits on the couch and pats the cushion next to him.

Jack jumps and crawls into the couch to sit next to his dad. He definitely got his height from Sal. Which reminds him, “Poppy’s taller than be now.” He swings his legs out in front of him.

“She is?” 

“I come to her shoulders!”

Sal looks down at Jack in confusion. “How? She was shorter than you last Christmas…”

“I don’t know.” Jack shrugs his shoulders. He and Soda (Poppy) had discovered their new height difference during their last playdate, in which Soda had lifted Jack onto the counter so he could steal the pack of Oreos that Maple had hidden from them.

Sal changes the subject. “Okay, you heard me and Papa talking yesterday, right?”

Jack nods his head. “Am I in trouble?”

“No, Buddy, you’re not in trouble. But you heard us talking about Henry, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well,” Sal folds his hands in his lap. “Henry is… you’re grandfather…”

Jack raises his eyebrows. “You guys said my grandpa was dead?”

“No, grandpa Jim is dead. He was Papa’s dad. Henry is  _ my  _ dad…” Sal fiddles with hands, getting more nervous as he speaks. “I haven’t talked to my dad since I was pregnant with you, you see?”

“Why?”

“Because…” Sal has trouble finding a way to word it for Jack to understand without becoming upset. “My dad was… very mean to me when I was a kid.” 

“Why?”

Sal feels a lump in his throat. “Come here,” Sal stands up and Jack follows him. They go to the hallway closet and Sal pulls down a box on the shelf. He goes through the cluttered box until he finds an old picture book. “Look at this, Bud.” Sal sits on the floor with Jack next to him. He opens the book to a picture of a blonde woman sitting in a field of flowers. She smiles brightly at the camera.

Jack points to the woman in the picture. “That’s grandma, right?”

“Yep! That’s my mom, Diane.” 

Jack has seen every picture in the book many times. He turns a page to a picture of Diane, still in the flower field, holding a small, blue-haired child in her lap. She’s kissing the top of his head with the happiest look on her face. “And that’s you?”

“That’s me!” Sal had a reason to show Jack the pictures, but it’s thrown out the window when pulls out another book from the box.

“This one’s Papa’s!” He flips it open to a picture of Larry’s second birthday party. 

In the picture, Lisa is balancing her son on one of her hips, and balancing a tray of cupcakes with her other hand.

Jack giggles at the picture. “Grandma looks like Papa in this one.”

Sal flips the page to one of the next Halloween, in which Larry was Tigger. “There’s the Tigger costume that Artemis lives in now!” Which is true, Artemis found the Tigger costume in the closet and now refuses to wear normal clothes. Despite the costume being far too big on her.

Sal remembers why he pulled out the books and feels that lump returns in his throat. “Um, Jack?”

Jack looks up at Sal with a big smile. “Yeah?”

Sal straightens out his family picture book. “You remember I told you about what happened to grandma?”

Jack nods. “And your face?”

“And my face… But, uh… You see…” Sal can’t find the words. He knows how sensitive Jack can be, and how telling him the truth will hurt him… “Jack… My dad loved my mom  _ very _ much. And, when she passed away, he was very sad.” 

Jack nods along with Sal’s words. “You were sad, too, right?”

Sal nods. “Yes, I was… But my dad had a problem.”

“What problem?”

“...He started being very mean to me after my mom passed.” He decides not to bring up alcoholism. “But when I was pregnant with you, he wanted to start being nice to me again… But he didn’t do it. Instead, he just ignored me… for years…” Sal was looking down at the picture of him and Diane. When he looks back at Jack, his heart stops at the look on his face.

Jack’s dark eyes were filled with sadness at the words Sal just spoke. “Why did he ignore you?”

Sal drops the picture book and cups Jack’s face. “Honey, Honey, Honey! Don’t be so sad! Look, my dad had problems… I think you’re gonna need to be older to understand it better, but my dad just wasn’t a good person.” Sal pulls Jack into his lap to comfort him more. “The reason I’m telling you this is that my dad wants to be a good person now…”

Jack wipes his nose and sniffs.

Sal tucks a piece of Jack’s hair behind his ear. “He wants to be a good dad now! And he wants to be a good grandpa! I’ve been walking to him for a week now, and we’ve decided to meet up on Saturday…”

Jack leans into Sal a bit. “Okay…”

“Jack, look at me.” Sal runs his hand through Jack’s fluffy hair. “You are so much like Papa, you know that?”

Jack nods his head. “Everyone says that.”

“I mean it.” Sal smiles. “You don’t put up with people you don’t like, at all. Papa is the same.” Sal leans in closer to Jack and lowers his voice. “Don’t tell anyone that I told you this, but Papa used to beat up our classmates in high school.”

Jack looks shocked. “He did?”

“Yeah. People would bully me and punch me, or they would bully Uncle Todd or Auntie Ash. So, Papa would beat those people up.”

Jack smiles brightly. “He beat up bullies!”

Sal laughs and sets Jack back to the ground. He stands up and puts the box of pictures away. “Papa doesn’t really want to go meet my dad, and I can tell that you don’t either.” He leans down to Jack’s height better. “But everything’s gonna be okay. If you’re anything like Papa when he was little,” Sal pinches Jack’s nose and makes the boy squirm and giggle. “You’ll do fine!”

Sal sends Jack off to play, happy that his son was handling himself well. He smiles and turns around then jumps when he sees a figure standing in the doorway behind him.

Larry smirks at Sal. “Glad to see you’re talking to him about this.”

Sal walks up to Larry and wraps his arms around his neck. “Hey, the boy’s gonna learn what alcoholism and abuse are someday, right? Might as well ease him into it.” He presses his body into Larry’s and kisses him.

Larry slides his hands down Sal’s back and starts to grab his ass… And the monitor clipped to Larry’s belt chimes in with Ophelia’s cries. “Fuck.” Larry runs upstairs to Ophelia’s room, leaving a giggling Sal in the hallway.

Sal loves watching Larry be a parent, and he loves being a parent himself. But the last time the two had a night to themselves, Ophelia was born nine months later.

They should take Todd and Neil up on their offer to babysit the girls, and Maple and Chug’s offer to have Jack spend the night. (Soda is practically begging them to let Jack have a sleepover.)

A date night with Larry sounds like heaven to Sal right now. “We’ll see.” Sal turns around and walks to the living room, where Jack had just knocked over a potted plant in the corner.

“Sorry...”

“It’s fine, Buddy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this is kinda short.
> 
> How does a chapter dedicated to Soda and Jack having a sleepover sound?


	3. Sweet Tooth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack has a rough day at school and Larry tries to make him feel better. Then, Family Breakfast!

Larry drives home with Jack in the back seat in tense silence. The principal had called to tell them that Jack and a friend had gotten into serious trouble.

Jack sniffles and wipes at his eyes now and then, but he tries to keep a stern-looking face.

Larry looks into the rearview mirror and glances at Jack’s red face. “Hey… You know I’m not mad at you, right?”

Jack ignores him for a while.

Larry decides to leave it be for now. Sal was right, the boy is just like Larry… He guesses that’s sort of karma.

“It’s not my fault!” Jack suddenly barks at Larry.

“I know it’s not, Bud,” Larry says calmly. “And I know Daddy’s gonna think the same thing.”

The rest of the car ride is silent, mind Jack’s sniffling.

When they get home, Jack immediately charges ahead of Larry. He gets inside and passes Sal on the couch with the girls.

“Hey-,” Sal tries to say, but Jack goes straight upstairs.

“Jack,” Larry tries to follow after him, but Jack slams his bedroom door shut. Larry sighs and returns downstairs to a shocked Sal.

“What happened?” Sal stands up with Ophelia in his arms.

Larry waves at him to sit back down. He sits next to Artemis and wraps an arm around her. “Jack got teased during music class today.”

Sal raises an eyebrow. “Why?”

“He played  _ ‘The Scientist’  _ on the piano in class, like you showed him, but he missed a few keys.”

Sal still looks confused.

Larry sighs. “The kids in the class were bullying him for being  _ ‘deaf’,  _ and how,  _ ‘deaf people can’t play music.’ _ ”

Sal’s jaw drops slightly. He leans back and presses his head into the back cushion. “Damn it…”

Larry runs a hand through his hair, not wanting to say the next part. “Jack says… some kids tried to rip out his hearing aids.” 

Sal bolts back up with a horrified look. “What!?”

Larry nods his head. “Yeah, my reaction exactly. So… Jack punched the kid and broke his nose.”

Sal lies Ophelia on his lap and runs his hands down his face. “Nooo, Jack…”

“The principal says he’s suspended for the rest of the week…” Larry pulls Artemis into his lap to move closer to Sal. He wraps an arm around Sal’s shoulder. “And the thing about a friend getting into trouble… Maple and Chug were also there.”

Sal looks over to Larry with slight relief. “Oh, God… What did Soda do?”

“Well, she backs Jack’s story up. She says some kids tried to rip out Jack’s hearing aids… She’s suspended, too, for punching a kid in the face.”

Sal leans his head into Larry’s shoulder. “He’s probably crying up there…”

Larry rubs Sal’s back. “I’ll try to talk to him again.”

  
  
  
  
  


Jack had thrown his pillow across the room and knocked over his desk lamp in a fit of rage. The lamp landed in the trash can and didn’t break, but he was making a huge mess of his bedroom. Jack’s now in bed, punching and beating a pillow. He punches at it until he hears a knock at the door. “What!?”

“Jack?” Larry speaks softly. “Can I talk to you?”

Jack throws his pillow down and tears start streaming down his face. “You can’t come in!”

“I didn’t ask to come in, I asked if we could talk.” Outside, Larry sits down on the floor with his back against the door. “I just wanna talk to my son for a bit.”

Jack stomps on the floor over to the door. He stands in front of the door with his arms crossed. “About what?”

“I just want to tell you that I’m proud of you.”

Jack freezes for a moment. Did he just say he’s proud of him? “Why?”

“‘Cause didn’t take some other kids’ shit.” Larry chuckles. “You’ve been letting people push you around your entire life, Jack. Come on, Artemis has you wrapped around her finger.” Larry hears a faint laugh on the other side of the door. It’s barely there, but it makes Larry’s heart so happy. “You’ve been just like Daddy for the longest time. You needed others to stand up for you. But you stood up for yourself today… Sure, Daddy thinks we need to work on you keeping calmer when doing so, but you still stood up for yourself. And I am so proud of you.”

The door opens and falls back, hitting the floor.

Jack looks down at him, his face still red from crying, and laughs. “You’re a dork, Papa.”

Larry sits up and pulls Jack into a hug. “I know.”

  
  
  
  
  


Jack pours Cheerios into Artemis’s highchair tray.

Artemis picks one up and presses it to Jack’s mouth.

“No,” Jack takes the Cheerio and gives it back to his little sister. “It’s for  _ you. _ ” He feeds the cereal to her, careful of her teeth, as she has a bad habit of biting.

Sal keeps an eye on them while he sturs a pan of vegetables. He looks down the pan and feels someone come up behind him.

Larry leans into Sal’s ear and whispers, “Did you talk to Jack?”

“Yes,” Sal whispers back. “Honestly, I don’t think he’s got anger issues. But we gotta work with him on how he handles these situations.”

Larry rests his chin on Sal’s shoulder. “Or people can teach their kids not to treat disabled people like shit.”

Sal pats Larry’s cheek. “I’m gonna stick with my plan.”

Larry backs away and gives Sal a swat on his ass before leaving.

Sal watches Larry leaves with a disapproving look. “In front of the kids?”

Larry points to the other side of the room, where Jack is feeding Artemis. “They’re not paying attention!”

After dinner, Sal and Larry give the kids baths and get them ready for bed.

“Can I stay up longer?” Jack asks Sal while he was doing laundry. “I don’t school tomorrow… Or the day after that…”

Sal snorts as he throws clean clothes into a basket. “I guess. But you’re staying in your room, and no electronics.”

“Awesome!” Jack runs back to his room and gently shuts the door.

Sal laughs and finishes with the laundry. When it is getting late, he goes to Jack’s room. “Hey,”

Jack is sitting on his bed, playing with two superhero toys.

“It’s time for bed,” Sal says, but Jack doesn’t even look at him. He checks the time on Jack’s clock, 9:28 p.m., to confirm that his hearing aids are probably dead. Sal walks over and taps his son on the shoulder.

Jack jumps, startled.

Sal raises his hands and does the ASL signs as he speaks, “It is time for bed.”

Jack fiddles with his hearing aids, not realizing the batteries were drained. He takes them out and puts them in the charger.

Sal tucks Jack into his bed and kisses his head. Without speaking, Sal points to himself, crosses his arms over his chest, the points to Jack.

“I love you, too!” Jack shouts.

Sal puts a hand over Jack’s mouth and presses a finger to his lips. But, it’s too late, as Sal can already hear Ophelia start to cry from her room.

  
  
  
  
  


Sal lays in bed after finally getting Ophelia back to sleep. Jack and Artemis could sleep through an earthquake, while Ophelia gets woken up by a book being dropped in the other room. Sal snuggles into the blankets, happy to get some sleep when he gets a sharp swat to his ass. “Larry!” He whisper-shouts

Larry laughs and lays down next to Sal. “Come on, you liked it that time~.” Larry pulls Sal close to him and kisses his lips.

Sal wraps an arm around Larry’s neck and hums. “Goodnight.”

Larry laughs and kisses Sal’s forehead. “Goodnight, Baby Blue~,”

  
  
  
  
  


Artemis swings her feet in her highchair, waiting patiently until Larry places a small pancake in front of her.

“What do you say?”

“‘Ank ‘ou!”

“Close enough.” Larry kisses the top of Artemis’s head and brings the plate of pancakes to the table. He sets a pancake on everyone else’s plate and they all start eating.

Sal takes his first bite of pancake and tastes pumpkin spice, which makes his heart stop for a moment. He looks back at Artemis then to Larry with a terrified look on his face.

Larry laughs at the look on his husband’s face. “Her’s is just a plain buttermilk pancake.”

Sal sighs in relief and keeps eating. When Sal was pregnant with Artemis, pumpkin spice was a huge craving of his. But now, any time she eats something with pumpkin spice, Artemis throws up. The doctors say no damage happens to her, so she doesn’t seem to  _ really  _ be allergic, she just doesn’t like it.

“Did Simone call back?” Sal asks Larry.

“Yeah.” Larry nods. “Her and Ash want to know if-, Jack, you could fill the bathtub with that much syrup.”

Jack giggles and eats his pancake that he had drowned in syrup.

Larry looks back at Sal. “What was I saying?”

Sal laughs and rolls his eyes. “Simone and Ash are getting married. Are we helping out with anything?”

“Oh!” Larry pulls out his phone. “Okay, I made a list of things they want help with-,” The baby monitor on the counter chimes with Ophelia’s giggly squeaks.

Sal laughs again and stands up. “Text me the list.” He says to Larry and goes upstairs to get their daughter.

Larry quickly sends the list to Sal and returns to eating.

Jack reaches over the table to grab the bag of chocolate chips and pours some more on his pancake.

Larry has to stop him from dumping the entire bag upside down. “This is why we don’t eat like this all the time!” He jokes and sets the chocolate chips back.

“It’s because you want me to  _ starve! _ ” Jack shovels more of his overly-sweetened food into his mouth.

Larry laughs to himself and shakes his head. “Sugar fiend.”

“Hey,” Jack points his fork at Larry. “I don’t take criticism from a man who doesn’t like cotton candy!”

Larry side-eye glares at his son. “Well, where have I heard that before?” He and Jack laugh. “You got it from Dad, that’s for damn sure.”

Sal returns with Ophelia and sits down with her in his arms. “Got what from me?”

“Your sweet tooth.” Larry finishes off his pancake and takes his plate to the sink.

“No,” Sal watches Larry as he starts doing dishes. “It’s not that I have a sweet tooth, you just have an anti-sweet tooth.”

Larry glares back at Sal. “Not true! I just have a damn limit!”

Sal rolls his eyes. “Okay, Mr. Can’t-Eat-More-Than-One-Piece-Of-Candy.”

Jack giggles with his dad and Larry points at them with a spatula.

“Just because you guys can eat hellashish amounts of sugar, doesn’t mean you should.” Larry returns to the dishes. “You can’t deny the  _ tooth,  _ fellas.”

Sal looks at Larry with a blank expression then slowly turns to Jack. “No counter pun?”

Jack shrugs his shoulders. “I can’t think of any, to tell you the  _ tooth. _ ”

Sal groans and Larry runs over to high-five his son. “Hell yeah, boy!”

For all of the cleaning up, Sal has to listen to his husband and son make teeth and sugar-related puns. As much as he acts as he hates it, Sal wouldn’t trade this for anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise that this is the only chapter where a character gets bullied for disabilities... I hope you enjoy dad jokes, cuz Larry literally makes dad jokes in the main game. I saw an opportunity and god DAMN am I gonna take it.
> 
> TD:LR: No more bullying. More dad jokes on the way.


	4. Cinnamon Cookies

Larry and Jack get home to a sweet-smelling home. Larry holds the door open for Jack, who goes straight to the kitchen.

“We’re home!” Jack throws his arms up as he enters the kitchen.

Sal is standing at the counter, with Artemis clinging to his leg. He has an electric in hand and a mixing bowl in front of him. “Hi, boy!” The oven buzzer goes off, and Sal grabs an oven mitt. He waddles over, Artemis still hanging from his leg, and pulls a batch of cookies out of the oven.

Jack sticks his head up, trying to see the cookies Sal set on the counter. “Those look good!”

“They better.” Sal uses a spatula to move the cookies from the sheet to a cooling rack. 

Larry walks in and notices two more plates with cooled cookies on them. “Sal, babe, are you planning on feeding a small village?”

Sal smiles and laughs at Larry. “Kinda.” He returns to his mixing bowl. “I’m making cookies for Ash and Simone’s wedding.” Sal looks back and sees Jack staring up at the plates on the counter. He laughs, “Jack, you can have a cookie if you want.”

Jack wastes no time snatching one from a plate and biting into it. “Thanks, Dad!”

Larry walks around the kitchen, taking in the huge mess of the counter. “How long have you been baking?”

“About an hour.” Sal starts up the electric mixer and finishes making cookie dough in the bowl. 

Larry steps in next to Sal and helps him ball the dough onto a cookie sheet. “I thought this was gonna be a small wedding? You’ve made more than enough!” Larry laughs.

“Well, Jack’s gonna be there.” Sal nods over to the living room where Jack was playing a video game.

“Oh, riiight.” Larry side-eyes Sal. As if Jack doesn’t get his appetite and sugar craving from _someone_. Once they finished and Sal was putting the cookies in the oven, Larry’s hands smelt hardcore of spice. “What kind of cookies are these?”

“Cinnamon.” Sal washes his hands and sets Artemis on his hip. “The girls let Lily choose, and she wanted, _‘Cinn-o-mon.’_ ” He mimics the little girl’s speech.

Larry laughs. “Of course.”

Ashley and Simone’s daughter isn’t like other little girls to say the least. One of her more recent “quirks” is an obsession with spicy cinnamon candies.

“She might be a bit disappointed when they turn out to be sweet.” Larry jokes.

“Just in case,” Sal opens a cupboard and pulls out a red box of **_“Hot Tamales”_ **, the spicy cinnamon candy that Lily is obsessed with.

Larry’s jaw drops slightly. “You are amazing, Sally Face.”

Sal gives a cheeky smile and puts the box back in the cupboard. “I got another box for you and Jack.”

While Larry doesn’t like sweets too much, he can throw back a whole box of the spicy candies. So can Jack. Sal really can’t understand it.

Artemis pats at Sal’s shoulder and babbles to get his attention.

“Yes?”

Artemis points to a plate of cookies and babbles more.

“You already had a cookie.” Sal opens the cupboard again. “You want a piece of candy?” He pulls out a pink box with panda bear faces on it.

Larry laughs. “You went to the candy shop I’m guessing?”

“Well, I wanted to get Lily her cinnamon candy, then I decided to get a box for you and Jack, and Artemis saw these little panda chocolates.” 

Larry smirks and raises an eyebrow.

“... I also got myself those Cherry Mash candies.”

Larry tilts his head to the side.”

“... I also saw a bag of buttercups on sale, and it reminded me of Jack.”

“There we go.” Larry nods. “Can’t leave the candy shop without wanting buttercups.”

“Shut up!” Sal sets Artemis on the floor to open the panda chocolates. 

Larry laughs and starts to clean up the flour mess on the counter. “I think it’s adorable, Sal.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Sal sits on the floor and feeds the chocolate panda faces to Artemis. “I know, I’m the cutest.”

Larry throws an empty cinnamon bottle in the trash can and sits down next to Sal. “Thank you for buying candy.” He kisses Sal’s cheek.

“Ah!” Artemis stomps her foot and reaches out to Larry with chocolate-covered hands.

“Come here, you get one, too!” Larry pulls her over and kisses her cheek.

“Ah!” She turns to Sal now.

Sal laughs and pulls Artemis over, kissing her cheek.

Artemis jumps up and runs to the living room.

“Where are you going?” Sal calls after her.

Artemis runs to the couch, where Jack is playing video games. “Ah!” She climbs up to her brother and taps her cheek.

Jack pecks Artemis’s cheek and continues with his game.

Happy, Artemis returns to the kitchen for more chocolate pandas.

  
  
  
  
  


A little girl with long, black hair, styled in a flower-filled braid crawls under a long table with a white cloth hiding her from view… Except for the end of her purple dress and one of her black Mary Janes sticking out.

Ashley walks over to the table and spots the dress and foot under the tablecloth. “...Oh, where did Lily go?” She walks past and hears a little giggle. The skirt of Ashley’s black and white dress brushes against Lily’s foot and the girl squeals and pulls in it. “Hmmm… I guess I’ll go see if Mama’s seen her.”

Lily pokes her head out. Deming the coast clear, she steps out but immediately gets grabbed.

“Gotcha!” Ashley scoops up her daughter and Lily screams and giggles. “You thought you could hide from me? No one can hide from me!” Ashley runs through the reception hall, passing family and friends until she arrives at a table with all the children. She sets Lily down next to Jack and squats down to her height. “The sooner you finish your food, the sooner we’ll cut the cake.”

Lily wastes no time stuffing her mouth full at the promise of cake.

Ashley laughs and kisses Lily’s head, then goes to the next table where her new wife is at. Ashley sits next to Simone and wraps an arm around her.

Simone’s dress is a pastel blue with pink butterflies embroidered down the back. She leans into Ashley with a big smile. “You tamed Lily?”

“I told you, I’m Super-Mom!” Ashley laughs.

To Ashley’s other side, her parents are chatting with Todd and Neil.

To Simone’s other side, a woman is swooning to Larry over how cute Ophelia and Artemis are. 

But, next to Larry, is an empty seat.

Lily picks up a carrot from her plate. “Jack!”

Jack looks over to Lily and the little girl shoves the carrot at him. “No, you gotta eat your food.”

Lily pouts a little bit then looks across the table. “Poppy!”

Soda picks up a napkin and shields her face. “Uh-uh! Nope! I know you’re gonna throw it!”

Lily pouts again and drops the carrot, making it fall into her booster seat.

“Hey,” Someone whispers down below Lily.

She turns and breaks out in a huge smile at the white mask she sees. “Sawwy Face!” She reaches out to him.

Sal kneels next to Lily. “You’re mom told me you didn’t like the cinnamon cookies I made, sooo,” He places the box of **_Hot Tamales_ ** on the table next to Lily’s plate.

Lily beaks out in a fit of giggles as her favorite candy is set down.

Sal pats her back and goes back to the main table. He sits down next to Larry, who was deep in conversation with a woman Sal’s hasn’t yet. He looks down at Artemis, who has a bunch of food falling into her booster seat. “Oh, look at you.” He starts to pull crackers and cheese out of the booster. Thank God that none of this can stain her dress.

Larry pats Sal’s back to get his attention. “Hey,” He turns back to the woman, “This is my husband, Sal.” He looks to Sal and points to the woman. “This is Simone’s sister, Rachel.”

Rachel smiles and reaches past Larry to shake Sal’s hand. “You must be this _‘Sally Face’_ that Simone told me about?”

“The one and only.” Sal gestures to himself. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too! I was just telling Larry how cute your daughters are!”

“Thank you!” Sal smiles under his mask. But he always gets nervous when talking about his children. People ask, _“Where did you adopt?” “Did you get a surrogate mother?”_ Sal and Larry always try to avoid the questions or lie as best they can. They don’t necessarily want to tell people that Larry’s dad was an alien and Larry can impregnate men.

But, Rachel didn’t ask much… Simone had made things easier for them by telling her sister that the boys went through the same surrogate center that one of her friends went through.

After the meals were done, Sal drags Larry to the dance floor. They dance for a while before being interrupted by Lily.

“Hi, Pumpkin!” Larry bends down to her and Lily reaches one hand up to him. (The other is carrying her cinnamon candies like a coin purse.) Larry looks to Sal. “You don’t mind, do you?”

Sal scoffs. “Of course I don’t, you dork!”

Larry smiles and picks Lily up to dance with her.

Sal goes to get his daughters and sit down. He sits with them and watches Larry dance with Lily. He smiles brightly at how cute his husband is.

After a while, Larry sets Lily down and the little girl runs off happily. Larry catches Sal’s eyes and starts to walk over to him, but… “Larry!” Soda runs up to him and grabs his hand. “Can you dance with me?”

Larry looks up at Sal quickly and Sal gives him a thumbs up.

Larry takes Soda back to the dance floor for a dance.

Sal rocks Ophelia to the rhythm of the song playing, watching her then back to Larry.

When the song ends, Soda goes running to the children’s table. “Jack- Don’t you dare run from me, Jack!”

Larry starts back to Sal once again, but Artemis jumps from her seat next to Sal and runs, gigging, over to Larry. She reaches her hands up to him. “Dance!”

Larry smiles at her and takes her to the dance floor.

This one is Sal’s favorite. Watching his husband dance with their daughter made his heart so happy. Sal stands up and brings Ophelia over to them. “Mind if we join?”

Artemis laughs and reaches up to Sal.

Larry takes Ophelia from Sal so he can pick up Artemis to dance with her.

Once the song ends, Ashley and Simone do their bouquet tosses.

Sal and Larry sit at a table with their kids, watching the group of people gather at the dance floor.

Maple is sitting at the table with them, and Soda comes running up to them. “Mom, Simone’s sister’s husband said something weird about Uncle Sally.”

Sal and Larry look over to the girls. Rachel’s husband had been quiet the entire reception…

“Uh…” Maple looks at the man sitting two tables away, worried that Soda had heard something offensive. “People say weird things about his prosthetic a lot-,”

“He didn’t say anything about his face.” Soda looks almost horrified and it makes Maple’s heart sink.

Maple stands up and takes Soda’s hand and drags her off.

Sal stands up. “I’ll be right back.” He says to Larry and follows after the girls.

Maple gets Chug, who was talking with Neil and a few other people. “Outside. Now.” She leads them outside to the side of the reception hall. Maple places her hands on Soda’s shoulders while Sal and Chug stand behind them. “Okay, what did he say about Uncle Sally?”

Soda looks a little confused as she thinks it over. “Not bad for a-,” The next word that she says is… Unpleasant, to say the least.

But Sal snorts and puts his hand over his plastic mouth, trying not to laugh. Chug is the same, having to turn away to contain his laughter.

But Maple looks mortified. 

Soda looks up at her mother, confused. “What does that mean?”

“Uh…” Maple looks at the boys then back at Soda. “It’s a bad word. It, uh… It’s a slur for gay women.”

Soda looks even more confused. “Uncle Sally isn’t a gay woman.” She says matter-of-factly.

Sal and Chug finally explode with laughter. They lean into each other, trying to catch their breath.

Now, Maple is having to cover her mouth to keep from laughing. “Well, you know, some people don’t realize he’s a man.”

“I know that but why would he think he’s a gay woman?” Soda looks up at Sal. “Is it ‘cause Aunt Ashley wears a suit sometimes?”

Sal is wearing a tuxedo, and he’s got his pigtails. He was expecting to be mistaken for a woman, but this was a bit much. “I-I, I’m gonna go back- back inside!” Sal stutters from his laughter.

Back inside, Sal sits back at the table with his family.

“What was that about?” Larry questions him.

Sal shakes his head. “Ooooh, the usual. The dude thinks I’m a chick… a hot lesbian to be exact.”

Larry snorts and wraps an arm around Sal. “Well, that’s a first.”

Sal chuckles and looks around the table. “...Where’s Jack?”

Right on queue, Jack returns with a plate filled with treats. Mainly Sal’s cinnamon cookies.

Larry smiles and shakes his head. “You just ate dinner.”

Jack doesn’t break eye contact with Larry as he bites into a cinnamon cookie.

Larry rolls his eyes and laughs. “You are a bizarre kid.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter might take a bit, cuz I'm gonna practice my writing a bit more.
> 
> Hopefully, ya'll will like the next chapter. It's gonna be cute! <3
> 
> (Because Sal gets mistaken for a girl in canon, I thought him being mistaken for a lesbian at a lesbian wedding would be hilarious. I'm sorry.)


	5. Pizza Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 1 of the Johnson-Fisher family's night: Sal and Larry have a date-night.

Sal packs Jack’s backpack for a sleepover. Maple and Chug, being the amazing people they are, are having Jack spend the night with Soda at their place. On top of that, Todd and Neil are babysitting Artemis and Ophelia for a few hours.

Sal finishes packing Jack’s bag with everything he’ll need for the night. “Okay, now, they should be here soon.” Sal walks past Jack, who is sitting on the bed, and ruffles his hair.

“Hey!” Jack tries to flatten his hair, but it sticks back up in all directions.

Sal laughs and combes his fingers through Jack’s hair. “You’ve said it yourself: The hair can’t be tamed!” Sal leaves the room and heads downstairs. The house is quiet, as the girls have already been dropped off at Todd and Neil’s house. The only sound in the house is the sound of piano keys being frantically slammed, as Sal turns the corner just in time to see Gizmo push Patrick down.

“Gizmo!” Sal shouts. The orange cat stares blankly from the top of the piano as the other, black cat runs away.

Larry pokes his head from the kitchen. “The fuck was that?”

Sal turns around with his lips pursed. “Take a guess.” Sal turns back to the piano and reaches for Gizmo. “I don’t know why he hates Patrick so much…” He goes to pet his cat, but Gizmo jumps down and runs away. “Okay then…”

Larry chuckles and walks over to his husband. “He’s just a grumpy old man who has to share his owners with some baby.” Larry wraps his arms around Sal’s shoulders and hugs him. “You look cute~.”

Sal smiles happily at Larry. He had a flower hair clip that Jack made him years ago holding his bangs back. “Thank you.” He wraps his arms around Larry’s waist and pecks his lips.

“I’m ready!” Jack’s footsteps come thumping down the stairs and his fathers quickly separate.

When Jack gets to the landing, Sal and Larry both stare down in confusion. Larry is the first to say something: “What’s with your shoes?”

On Jack’s left foot is a black high-top but on his right foot is a white high top. “I could only find one of each!”

Larry walks over to the shoe rack by the door and picks up a pair of tie-dye pattern sneakers. “Jack…”

“...I didn’t know those were there…”

“Come on!” Sal runs to Larry and takes the shoes. He gets Jack to quickly take off the mismatched shoes and put on the tie-dye ones. “Maple and Chug are gonna be here in a few minutes, so where’s your bag?”

“It’s still upstairs!” Jack quickly runs to his bedroom.

Sal runs to the stairs and yells after Jack. “Don’t forget your jacket!”

“I won’t!”

Sal looks back out the living room, and Larry’s gone. He must have gone back to the kitchen. Sal starts going there, but he sees something out of the corner of his eye. He looks to the side table next to the couch and gasps loudly. “Oh, no…”

Larry pokes his head back out. “What now?”

Sal picks up a little, pink dinosaur plushie from the side table. “We forgot Noodle…”

Noodle, Artemis’s dinosaur plushie, is a bit of a security blanket for the little girl. It’s the ultimate anti-tantrum, anti-crying, sit-down-and-relax tool that Sal and Larry have for her. 

“Oh, Todd and Neil are in trouble.” Sal looks down at the slightly-worn-out toy with worry.

But Larry laughs. “When it comes to Todd, she’ll be fine.” Surprisingly, Todd is great with kids. Artemis behaves better with him than she did with most babysitters.

Sal shoves the dino in his pocket. “I’m gonna drop it off anyway.”

“Sal-,”

  
“Their house is on the same path as the pizza place, isn’t it?” Sal just doesn’t want to think about Artemis being a pain in their sides because.

Larry rolls his eyes but smiles. “You’re a bit protective.” He disappears back to the kitchen.

“What are you doing in there anyway?” Sal follows after him. He gets to the kitchen, and Larry is emptying a bag of groceries.

“I got some stuff for tonight.” He pulls out a few, small candles and waves them at Sal.

Sal nods and walks around Larry to the second bag. He tries to look inside, but Larry snatches it away.

“That one has a present in it.”

“Oh!” Sal turns around and runs out of the kitchen. “I got you something out in the car!” Sal runs upstairs for his prosthetic then runs back downstairs. He gets outside just in time for Maple, Chug, and Soda to pull up by the driveway.

Soda almost jumps out of the car before it comes to a full park. “Uncle Sally!!” She shouts and runs to him.

“Hi-,” Sal gets the air knocked out of him as he’s pulled into a bone-crushing hug by the young girl. “Whoa!” Sal pats Soda’s back. “You got stronger…”

Soda steps back and laughs. “Is Jack ready?”

Chug jobs up the driveway to his daughter. “Soda, don’t jump out of the car like that. We weren’t even parked.”

“Sorry, Dad… So, is Jack ready?”

Sal laughs and goes back to the door. He sticks his head inside to call for his son, but Jack comes barreling past him.

“I’m here!” He runs to Soda and hugs her.

Soda lifts Jack off the ground in a hug. “Hey!”

Sal stands back, stunned, by how strong the girl has gotten. She wasn’t that strong last time he saw her, was she?

Larry hurries out the door with shock on his face. He looks down at Jack, “Did you just  _ jump  _ down the stairs!?”

“I sure did!” Jack runs back and hugs both his fathers. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow!”

“Bye, Baby!” They see Jack and the others down to the car. They watch the car drive off until it turns the corner, out of sight.

“Okay!” Sal claps his hands and turns to Larry. “Go inside, and I’ll get your present from the car!”

“And I’ll have yours inside!” Larry runs off to the house.

Sal giggles as he watches Larry run inside. He goes to the car and opens the back seat to get a white vase filled with orange roses. Sal carefully carries the large vase back to the house and closes the front door behind him. “All right, Larbear, I got you-,” He’s cut off when Larry turns the corner… With a green vase filled with orange roses.

The two stare at each other in shocked silence, then Larry finally speaks. “We need to stop doing this.” He breaks out in a huge, dorky grin. This is the third time in their relationship that they got each other the same gift.

Sal laughs and sets the white vase on the side table next to the couch. “Ironic!” He takes the green vase from Larry. “At least we know we both like orange flowers.”

Larry smiles and reaches behind Sal’s head. He unclasps the prosthetic and lifts it, then kisses Sal’s nose. “Well, maybe I should have gone with Jack’s advice to get you yellow.”

“What’s the difference between yellow and orange?”

“I hope you’re kidding…”

  
  
  
  
  


Sal and Larry take their seats in a red booth in the corner of the pizza restaurant. The waiter had brought them drinks and free breadsticks, which Sal proceeds to wrap in napkins and shove in his bag.

Larry laughs and shakes his head. “I’m never going to get tired of you doing that!”

“Aww,” Sal tilts his head. “It makes me happy to know how much you love my goblin self.”

“Hey, a goblin wouldn’t have used napkins.”

Larry’s words make Sal cringe. “What heathen would want loose crumbs and garlic in their bag!?”

Larry laughs again and looks at the menu. “Oooh, we can get a pizza in the shape of a heart.”

Sal’s eyes light up. “We can live a corny rom-com cliche?” He claps his hands. “Order a heart-shaped pizza!”

Larry sips on his drink and flips through the menu. “What kind do you want?”

“I don’t care, you pick.”

“I don’t care either.”

Sal narrows his eyes at Larry, who closes his menu. “Really, Mr. Picky-Eater?”

Larry scoffs and rolls his eyes. “I’m not that picky of an eater.”

Sal opens his menu. “I kindly disagree.” While Larry can eat his weight in his favorite foods, that list of foods is surprisingly limited. (And mainly filled with spicy foods.)

It’s a good thing that Sal knows that list better than anyone. When the waiter returns, Sal orders a heart-shaped pizza. “When it comes to you, I can’t go wrong with spicy toppings on a pizza.”

Larry smiles and reaches for Sal’s hand on the table. “Okay, you know what I like. I’ll give you that.” He holds Sal’s hand a little bit above the table.

“Of course I do.” Sal smiles. “Like, how I know you can drink coffee in the morning and fall asleep an hour later.”

“Hey, you do that too!” Larry defends himself. “It’s a parenting thing! We’re always tired!”

Sal laughs at how quick Larry was to back himself up. “Okay, okay.” He leans a bit over the table. “Hey, did they have those craft beers on the menu?”

“Why?” Larry tilts his head a bit.

“You like them, don’t you?” Sal already knows the answer is ‘yes.’ “I’ll order you one.”

Larry shakes his head. “No, no, no, no. I’m driving us home.” Larry picks up his coke and takes a drink.

“I’ll drive us,” Sal says with total confidence.

Larry chokes on his drink.

“Larry!” Sal stands up and reaches over to pat Larry’s back. “Are you okay!?”

Larry grabs a napkin and wipes soda from his face, and starts laughing. “Sal- Sal, baby, you  _ can’t  _ drive!”

Sal sits back down. The looks in his eyes let Larry know he’s scowling. “Says who?”

“Um, the law?” Larry laughs. “You can’t drive because of your sight.”

Sal smirks under his mask and crosses his arms. “All right, all right. Then I’m getting the most expensive bottle of wine I find on the way home.”

Larry cringes a bit at Sal. “Eh, expensive doesn’t mean better.”

“Too bad, I’m buying it anyway!”

Their conversation is interrupted by the pizza being set on the table. It’s in a heart shape and cut into four pieces. The boys thank their waiter and grab a piece.

A cherry pepper falls off of Sal’s piece, but he picks it up and pops it in his mouth. He regrets it immediately. He cringes hard under his mask as the spice sets his mouth on fire. He grabs his soda and gulps it down to subside the heat.

Larry watches the whole thing happen in amusement. “You good?”

“Mhm!” Sal nods, but Larry can see his neck turning red. “These aren’t like the cherry peppers we buy normally…” Sal can feel the sweat start to form on his forehead.

“Because I buy us mild ones.” Larry takes a bite of his pizza, unfazed by the spice.

Sal picks the peppers off of his piece and tosses them onto the pizza plate, where Larry picks them back up and eats them. It doesn’t get rid of the heat completely, but now Sal’s face isn’t melting off. “See, a little spice is good! It adds to the flavor! But spice being the  _ only  _ flavor is a no-go.”

Larry smirks and rolls his eyes. “Okay, Mr. Picky-Eater.”

Sal stares at Larry with shock in his eyes. He sets his pizza down and takes a deep breath. “Don't be like that, Bro.”

A few minutes pass of silent eating, then Sal finishes his piece and chugs the rest of his drink.

“What the fuck?” Larry laughs. “Why are you in a rush?”

Sal wipes his mouth on the back of his hand and grabs another piece. “I’m just hungry.” Sal starts pulling off the cherry peppers and tossing them towards Larry.

Larry narrows his eyes and glares at Sal suspiciously. “You aren’t pregnant again, are you?”

Sal rolls his eyes. “Larry,” He giggles.

“Hey, I was right last time!” The last time Sal had eaten like this but played it off as just being hungry when Larry brought up pregnancy (as a joke), Ophelia was well on her way.

“You’re silly!” Sal talks with his mouth full of pizza.

Larry finishes his piece and stretches his hands out on the table. “Question,” He taps his fingers on the table. “What are we gonna do with the empty plot by the house?”

“You mean where the old flower bed died?”

“Yes.” Larry snaps his finger. “Jack wants to grow food there, but I think flowers would look nicer. Plus, I want to turn the area by the back porch into a food garden.”

“Oh!” Sal straightens up. “I want to move the herb plants we have in the kitchen there!”

“Good!” Larry smiles. “Oh, Jack also wants a lavender bush.”

Sal giggled. He presses his elbows on the table and rests his chin in his hands. “Because his papa told him about the lavender-infused honey we had before a storm destroyed our bush?”

Larry gives a cheeky smile and shrinks into his seat. “Maybe.” He crosses his arms and giggles. “And maybe his papa now wants to make lavender honey again.”

Sal drops his hands and reaches for Larry. “Aw,” Larry reaches his hands over and takes Sal’s. “I knew you were gonna bring that up one day! But, where are we gonna put a lavender bush?”

“Under the kitchen window?” Larry more so questions than confirms. “I don’t think we have anything there?”

“Actually, there might be something that grows there when the weather warms up.” Sal tries to remember if he had planted anything there. “Yeah, I foraged wild onions last year and dropped some without notice. We’ll have to dig up that area if we want to plant a bush.”

“I can do that!” Larry leans a little closer to Sal. “Also, I found rose hips in the woods this morning.”

Sal smirks and giggles at Larry’s smiley face. “You wanna go foraging soon?”

“Yeees.” Larry laughs and leans back in his seat. “I may have also bet Simone that I could make a better tea with the stuff we foraged than she can.”

Sal shakes his head and sighs. “You’re having a foraging contest with Simone?”

“Yep!”

Sal smiles and closes his eyes. “I love you so much, but you hurt my insides.”

After paying for their pizza, Sal and Larry race to the car. Sal gets to it first and jumps up and down by the passenger door. “I win!”

Larry gets to the car, but he doesn’t go to the driver’s side. “I’m sorry, you what?” He runs up to Sal and tickles his hips.

Sal jumps back and runs around the car, laughing. “Larry,  _ no! _ ”

Larry chases Sal back to the passenger side then stops. “Okay, you win!” He pulls the keys out of his pocket and unlocks the car. He opens the door for Sal, “That means I am you slave for a week.”

Sal sits down with his legs hanging out of the car. He stares up at Larry. “Whoa. What happens when I beat you to the house?”

Larry smirks and leans down to Sal. He whispers something in his ear that makes Sal’s neck and ears turn pink.

“Oh… O-okay.” Sal pulls his legs into the car and Larry shuts the door.

Larry walks around the car with a mischievous glint in his eye. He opens the driver’s door and gets in the car. “But, you know, we’re picking up the girls right after this.”

“Oh…” Sal says, sounding a little disappointed. “...I mean, how quiet can you stay?”

Larry goes to put the keys in the ignition but chokes on air at Sal’s comment. “Dude, I don’t think I’d be keeping quiet!”

Sal laughs and leans back in his seat. “Hide your face in the pillow, it’ll keep you quiet enough.”

“Sally!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What Larry said is up to your wonderful imaginations.
> 
> If you don't get the "What's the difference between orange and yellow" part: I headcanon Sal not really caring about the differences in colors, while Artist Larry™ can name every shade of every color in the world.
> 
> And metalhead-cottagecore lovers Sal and Larry raising their family near the forest and going foraging is a concept that you can pry from my cold, dead hands.
> 
> Sincerely, A Cottagecore Loving Metalhead <3 \m/


	6. Ghost Stories in a Flower Field

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 of the Johnson-Fisher family's night: Jack tells a spooky story and talks about family life to his friends.

Chug parks the car in the driveway, and the three children jump out. 

Soda, Megan, and Jack race each other to the front door of Maple and Chug’s house. Inside, they are greeted by the loud barking of a small dog.

Soda picks up the little, white chihuahua in her arms. “Hi, Baby!”

The chihuahua, Baby, growls at the purple-haired girl standing off to the side.

Megan moves behind Jack in fear. Not from Baby, but from the dog that’s almost the size of the couch making its way to them. “That is a big dog…”

While the tiny chihuahua snarls at Megan, unfamiliar with her, the 200 pound Great Dane wags its tail. It’s happy to meet a new person.

Jack laughs and reaches his hand out to the Great Dane. “Hi, Tank!” 

Tank jumps up, towering over the children, in excitement. Baby stops snarling at Megan and tries to jump from Soda’s arms to see Jack. No one can explain it, but animals always love Jack. Tank keeps jumping onto his back legs, trying to catch Jack.

Chug enters the house and sees Tank trying to crush the boy. “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” He runs over and wraps an arm around Tank’s chest, and pulls him back. “Don’t attack the children!”

But when Soda sets Baby down, the little dog runs to Megan and snaps her jaws at her.

Megan squeals and jumps into Jack, who ends up picking Megan up.

No one saw Maple enter the house until she picked Baby up. “No! Bad dog!” She looks down at Megan. “I’m sorry, Megan. She’s just not a very friendly dog.” Maple takes Baby into the other room, away from the kids.

“Come on!” Soda leads her friends upstairs to her bedroom. 

When they get there, Jack throws his backpack into the corner of the pink room, while Megan gently sets hers down.

Soda pulls the trundle bed out from under her bed. “You both can fit on it, but dad says he can go get the air mattress if we want.”

Megan looks at Jack shyly. “Um, well-,”

“Or Megan can sleep up there with me.” Soda points up to her bed with a little smirk.

While Megan’s been invited to many sleepovers, including some by Soda, her parents never let her go when boys would be there. Truth be told, her parents only saw Jack once, and they might have thought he was a girl. It might not help that Megan always referred to him as,  _ ‘Jackie.’ _

Jack throws his pillow onto the trundle bed. “I’m cool with having a bed to myself.” He walks over to his backpack to get his spare blanket out. “Oh! I forgot he packed this!” He pulls out a box of lollipops and holds them high.

“Heck yeah!” Soda jumps across her bed to get to Jack. “It’s not a sleepover unless Uncle Sal packs some candy!”

  
  
  
  
  


“Hey, Jack!”

Jack turns around at the sound of Megan calling his name and gets a pillow thrown to his face. He’s knocked off his feet and falls back into a pink, shaggy fur rug. “Ow…”

Megan giggles from her spot on the bed. “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself!” She laughs. But Jack doesn’t move for several seconds, and now she’s growing concerned. “Jack?”

Jack picks up the pillow and throws it at Megan, knocking her back.

“Ah!” Megan tries to catch herself but ends up pulling herself off the bed, falling onto the rug next to Jack.

The two stare at each other for a moment then burst out in laughter.

Soda enters the room with a few pillows and blankets. “Hey, what happened?”

“She tried to kill me!” Jack points at Megan.

“Nuh-huh!” Megan points at Jack. “He’s overdramatic!”

Soda sets the pillows and blankets on the trundle bed. “You’re both strange.” She smiles. She sits down, cross-legged on the rug with them. “Megan, guess what happened yesterday at school.” Soda smiles widely and mischievously.

Megan goes to a private catholic school, not a public school with Soda and Jack. She had met the two last summer at a park, and their school stories always make her think they’d be expelled from a catholic school. Megan rests her hands in her lap and smiles. “What?”

“Someone put a firecracker in a toilet.”

Megan looks taken aback. “What?” She repeats. She looks over to Jack in shock.

“What are you looking at me for!?” Jack shouts. “I didn’t do it!”

“I wasn’t blaming you!” Megan laughs. “I know you don’t pull pranks in school!”

“Well,” Soda starts speaking matter-of-factly. “He did get, like, the whole school to believe he lives in a haunted house.”

“One,” Jack raises a finger. “The house isn’t haunted, the field around it is haunted. Two,” He raises a second finger. “Dad can confirm, there is a ghost in the field.”

Soda rolls her eyes and laughs, but Megan stares at Jack in interest. “Really? He saw a ghost in the field?”

“Yeah!” Jack closer to Megan. “And I know something is out there, ‘cause every time I get close to that old barn by the forest, my hearing aids ring like crazy!  _ And  _ our cats won’t go near the barn!”

Megan’s curiosity and starting to be challenged by her fear. She’s terrified of ghost stories but does Jack have a ghost by his house?

“Tell her what happened!” Soda bounces a bit in her spot. She looks at Megan, “I love this story.” Soda loves ghost stories in general. Even though she doesn’t necessarily believe in ghosts, she loves the stories. And this one is her favorite.

“Okay,” Jack leans closer into their circle, and Soda and Megan lean in too. “This happened a while ago. Before we met you, Megan. He just moved into the house we live in now. There’s a  _ huge  _ field around, filled with flowers, that stops by the forest surrounding it. So, anyway, the last owners of the house left some stuff behind, and we had to clean a room out for a baby.”

  
  
  
  
  


_ A little, 4-year-old Jack tries with all his might to lift a dusty box, but he ends up falling on his bottom.  _

_ “Oh, no.” Aunt Ashley hears the thud and stands up from where she is cleaning. “Did someone fall?” _

_ Little Jack is almost in tears when Ashley rushes over and picks him up. “It’s okay, Jack,” She balances him on her hip. “Why don’t you go help your daddy outside, okay?” _

_ Jack wipes the tears from his eyes and nods. _

_ “Good boy.” Ashley places a kiss on the boy’s forehead and sets him down. “I’ll handle everything in here.” _

_ Jack walks off and carefully goes down the stairs. The front door is open, letting cool air in, and Jack walks out. “Daddy?” He calls out. He steps off the porch and starts going around the house. “Daddy?” He sees a glimpse of blue out of the corner of his eye and turns around. “Daddy!” But he doesn’t see him. _

_ The wind chimes overhead ring out, but there is no wind… Those chimes were also left by the old owners. _

_ “Daddy!” Jack’s eyes well up with tears again, not being able to find his dad. _

_ “Jack?” A familiar gets his attention. Jack runs to the front of the house and crashes into Todd’s legs. Todd gets knocked back slightly but picks Jack up. “Are you okay?” _

_ “I can’t find Daddy!” A tear slips down his face. _

_ Todd chuckles slightly. “Your daddy’s inside.” Todd carries Jack inside and takes him all the way upstairs. They enter the parents’ bedroom, where a pregnant Sal is hanging up curtains at the window. _

_ Todd knocks on the door to get Sal’s attention. “Guess who was crying outside, trying to find you?” _

_ “Oh, Jack!” Sal hurries over and takes his son from Todd. “I’ve been up here, silly!” _

_ Jack sniffs and rubs at his eyes. “Aunt Ash said you were outside…” _

_ Sal looks at Jack, confused. He looks out the door. “Ash?” _

_ “Yeah?” Ashley calls from the other room. _

_ “Did you tell Jack was outside?” _

_ They hear footsteps, and Ashley enters the room. “Yeah? I saw you outside just a minute ago.” _

_ “I’ve been in here the whole time…” _

  
  
  
  
  


“Dad and Aunt Ash talked about it for a while.” Jack leans away from the circle. “I thought I saw something blue, like Dad’s hair. And Ash full-on saw him out there.”

“So, the ghost looks like your daddy?” Megan questions.

Soda giggles. “Only sometimes.”

“What do you mean?”

“Come on, Jack, get to the good part!”

“Okay, okay!” Jack laughs. “So, later that day, Dad and Papa actually went outside to take those wind chimes down-,”

“Kids!” Maple calls from downstairs. “Come choose what pizza you want!”

Jack and Soda jump up and run to the door. “Jack, if you get pineapple, I’ll kill you!”

“Wait!” Megan chases after them. “What happened when they took them down!”

  
  
  
  
  


The children have all sat on Soda’s bedroom floor again, with plates full of pizza. 

A piece of pineapple falls off of Jack’s slice, and he picks it back up and eats it.

Soda cringes slightly at him. “You’re lucky that my parents got two pizzas, ‘cause I would have kicked your ass if you made me eat a  _ pineapple pizza. _ ”

Megan jumps slightly in shock. After almost a year of knowing each other, she still gets taken by surprise whenever Jack and Soda cuss at each other while their parents weren’t there. “Okay!” Megan quickly finishes her slice and leans over to Jack. “What happened when your dads took down the wind chimes?”

Jack sets down his plate in his lap and wipes his hands. “Okay, so. Dad and Papa went outside to take down the wind chimes that the last owners left.”

  
  
  
  
  


_ Larry follows a jilted Sal outside. “You’re such a baby.” He laughs and shakes his head and approaches the wind chime hanging by the house. _

_ Sal huffs and crosses his arms. “It’s a  _ black widow!  _ They're venomous!” The black spider had crawled near Sal’s hand when he went to remove the wind chimes, causing him to run inside to get his husband to help. _

_ But after examining the area for a minute, Larry shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t see a widow anywhere.” Larry reaches up and removes the chimes. They rattle and ring as they’re pulled down. “These are still in pretty good condition.” _

_ “I know, that’s why I wanna hang them in the front of the house.” Sal gestures around the side of the house. “This whole area gets really nice sunlight, so I’d like to put a hanging plant here instead.” _

_ Larry and Sal walk back to the front door, but Sal pauses. “I forgot my phone. Go check on Jack, please?” Sal runs off back to the side of the house.  _

_ It’s getting dark out, and the low sunlight shining on the bushes cast menacing shadows on the ground, but Sal’s not bothered by childish little fears. He’s just worried his phone might have fallen into one of those bushes. He doesn’t want to dive for it… _

_ But Sal quickly spots his phone, unharmed. He goes to grab it, then looks out to the field… And spots a pair of tan work gloves on the ground. Sal groans and runs his hands down his face. “Larry, you’re kinda a pain in the ass…” Sal waddles out to the field, not far from the house at all. He struggles to bend down and pick up the gloves and needs to drop onto his knees to get them. _

_ “Fuck…” Sal huffs, already out of breath. He picks up the gloves and shakes out the dirt, and spots several holes in them. “God, Larry, how? You just got these!” But further expectation leads Sal to believe these aren’t Larry’s gloves. First off, they’re a bit too small. Second, their fitting straps show a different brand than what Larry’s are. _

_ Sal hears Jack and Larry laughing back at the house. He looks back with a smile. “Heh, dorks.” When Sal turns back to the field but sees someone walking past the barn, into the woods. The figure seems to be wearing a long, white dress that blows around them, but there is no wind to be causing that to happen. Sal doesn’t stay to investigate. He can’t run as it is with his giant baby bump, so if this is someone there to kill him, he’s screwed. _

_ With some struggle, Sal manages to get back to his feet and waddles as fast as he can to the house. _

  
  
  
  
  


“I was sitting on the couch with Papa when Dad came back in,” Jack explains. “He was freaked out, saying there was someone by the barn.”

Soda and Megan both lean on their hands as Jack speaks. Soda is listening in amusement, while Megan looks terrified but intrigued.

“Papa went out with his gun, but he didn’t find anything…” Jack looked at the scared Megan and smirked evilly. “They didn’t even find the gloves.”

Megan’s mouth falls open a gap. “They disappeared!?”

“Yep.” Jack leans back and takes a bite of his pizza. “But Dad knows they were there, ‘cause he even told Papa to go get them.”

“And then,” Soda starts. “My parents went to help with cleaning out the barn and found a white dress hidden in the dirt.”

“What!?” Megan gasps in shock and horror. “They did!?”

“Yeah!” Jack laughs. “I saw the dress, and Uncle Chug was terrified! We all knew that that’s what Dad saw when he was in the field!”

“Wait,” Megan stops them. “Why do you guys still live there!?”

Jack shrugs his shoulders. “Dad buried the dress in a grave, and nothing has happened since. He thinks the ghost just didn’t get a proper burial, so making the grave put them to rest.”

Soda rolls her eyes. “He did not tell you that.”

“No,” Jack takes a bite of pizza, “But he told Papa while I had my ear pressed against their door.”

Megan sighs and hides her face in her hands. “Jack, that’s really creepy…”

“The ghost or eavesdropping on his dads?” Soda comments then gets a piece of pineapple thrown at her. “Hey!”

“You deserved that.” Jack nods at her. “Anyway, Meg, nothing has happened since then. We  _ had  _ a ghost, but it’s gone now.”

“Good, ‘cause I wanna see your flower field one day.” Megan smiles brightly, all sense of fear leaving her. “I wanna see what kind of flowers and plants you guys have!”

“Hm!” Jack sets his empty plate on the floor. “Have you ever had infused honey?”

“What?” Megan tilts her head at the question.

“Uncle Sal and Larry make infused honey with the flowers in their garden and in the forest.” Soda stops and thinks for a moment. “I think we still have a small jar of lilac honey in the kitchen. Mom makes our breakfast with it.”

Jack looks over at Megan and can tell by her face that she’s still lost. He laughs, “Infused honey is just honey with flower petals soaked in it. It gives it a new taste, depending on what flowers or plants you use.”

“Oh!” Megan’s face lights up at the idea. “That’s cool! Do your dads make it a lot?”

“Kinda. Aunt Simone’s brother is a beekeeper, so she can get us lots of honey. Plus, my dads are foragers, meaning they collect lots of plants from the forest and regrow lots of them.” Both Jack and Soda smile at the amazed look on Megan’s face.

“That sounds so cool!” Megan in her spot. 

“It is!” Soda speaks before Jack can. “My mom and I went foraging with them once, and we made really good tea with the stuff we found!”

“Really!?” Megan burst with joy. “My mommy  _ loves  _ tea! She would love to find plants for tea!”

“Although we did use things from the garden for the tea.” Jack leans and rests on his elbows. “And you gotta be careful. I once grabbed a plant, not knowing what it was, and it burned my hand…  _ But  _ it’s _also_ edible, so Papa harvested it and used it for dinner.”

Megan giggles and smiles at Jack. “Your family is strange, Jack.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How would ya'll like a chapter dedicated to these three getting into shenanigans? Cuz I've got a few ideas, some kinda funny!


End file.
